and Justice Studies Center for Global Collective Action Center for the Study of Texas Politics Institute for Public Affairs Institute for Urban Policy Research The Negotiations Center Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science opened in 1986 and houses the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments as well as UTD's Computer Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Software Engineering, and Telecommunications Engineering programs. In 2002 the UTD Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science was the first in the United States to offer an ABET-accredited B.S. degree in telecommunications engineering and is one of only a handful of institutions offering a degree in software engineering. The Bioengineering department offers MS and PhD degrees in biomedical engineering in conjunction with programs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington. UT Dallas undergraduate programs in engineering have emerged in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings placing 60th among the nation's public schools of engineering. The school's graduate program U.S. News ranked 46th among public graduate schools of engineering and third among publicly funded schools in Texas. The school's electrical engineering graduate program ranked 38th among comparable programs at other public universities and the graduate program in computer science is among the top 50 such programs at public universities. The school is developing new programs in bioengineering, chemical engineering, and systems engineering. The school is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence and a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research for the academic years 2008–2013 by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security. Centers and institutes Center for Advanced Telecommunications Systems and Services (CATSS) Center for Integrated Circuits and Systems (CICS) Center for Systems, Communications and Signal Processing (CSCSP) Cybersecurity Research Center (CSRC) Embedded Software Center Emergency Preparedness Center Global Information Assurance Center Photonic Technology and Engineering Center (PhoTEC) Texas Analog Center of Excellence CyberSecurity and Emergency Preparedness Institute Human Language Technology Research Institute Center for Basic Research in Natural Language Processing Center for Emerging Natural Language Applications Center for Machine Learning and Language Processing Center for Robust Speech Systems (CRSS) Center for Search Engines and Web Technologies Center for Text Mining CyberSecurity Research Center Embedded Software Center Emergency Preparedness Center Global Information Assurance Center InterVoice Center for Conversational Technologies School of Interdisciplinary Studies The School of Interdisciplinary